


Nothing Is As It Seems.

by IWillNotGoGentlyIntoThatGoodNight (Menochange)



Series: Conversation in Silence [4]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Batfamily Feels, Big Brother Dick Grayson, Big brother Tim, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Gen, Good Big Brother Dick Grayson, Misunderstandings, Sad Bruce, Secrets, Tim Drake is Red Robin, Timmy is stressed, batfam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-01 20:53:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16291598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menochange/pseuds/IWillNotGoGentlyIntoThatGoodNight
Summary: Tim Drake has had so much on his plate recently that he admits he hasn't been the most observant as of late (to anything non work related that is ). So obviously it takes him a tad off guard when he (along with the brat) accidentally walk in on an intimate scene.Unfortunately the Demon is too innocent (isn't that sentence an oxymoron) to realize that Dick isn't hiding something because he is sad but because he's having a clandestine relationship with their father.So Tim decides to be a good older brother (mainly to ensure no one gets maimed) and talks to Dick (because there was no way in hell he was having that conversation with Batman) about cluing the brat in.





	Nothing Is As It Seems.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, it's me again....  
> Procrastinating whilst I should be studying once again. so here is another installment of Conversations in Silence.  
> It can be read alone but It does refer to little details from the other stories in this series.
> 
> Just to be clear this is not a Bruce/Dick story which is why I haven't tagged it :).

Despite claims made by his demonic little brother, Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne was not usually an idiot.

But this situation was different, it wasn’t that he hadn’t seen the signs, all the little inconsequential things which in hindsight seemed to point to one glaringly obvious answer. He just had so much going on that he couldn’t deal with anymore weight upon his shoulders. He wasn’t stupid, he just hadn’t wanted to face the truth.

Looking back now, his first clue that something was wrong, should have been Jason. One day the red masked vigilante was running around accusing Tim of trying to muscle his way in to the older boy’s case whilst he was out of town– which was ridiculous for a number of reasons, least of all was the fact that Tim already had too much on his plate, so he sure as hell couldn’t handle taking on Hood’s shit on top of everything else (and that wasn’t even taking into consideration that if Tim _had_ like a complete moron, wanted to – for some unfathomable reason- steal Hood’s case, the older boy sure as hell wouldn’t know it until well after he had completed it, _if then_ ) – and then out of nowhere he called Tim saying that he had to leave town for a bit, stating that as his replacement Tim would be taking over all of his cases until he got back and then hung up, the asshole had even turned off his phone too because that was just the kind of dick Jason was.

Which is why everyone and their fucking demon child would have to excuse him for dropping the ball just a little. Tim had so much shit he had to deal with, between all the work he had to do for WE, his own cases (and now Jason’s on top of all that), patrol (his and Jason’s because if he was already doing the other boy’s cases he may as well, do the rest of his job too), charity events, fundraisers _and_ galas (because of course everything had to happen during Gotham’s busiest social season), not to mention the fact that Cassie won’t stop calling him about making a new superhero team (Which Tim seriously can’t handle right now, especially since he’s low key not over the fact that the demon brat had forcibly taken the teen titans), Tam keeps messaging him cryptic messages and requests to ‘catch up’ (which may or may not indicate that she wants to get back together. He thinks they may be flirting. Are extra emojis and late night conversations flirting or is it her way trying to work around his schedule? Did she want to date again or did she want to be friends? JFC girls were so confusing), Bruce had also been on his back lately about going to college (which he doesn’t actually need considering he already has a job, two even; though he supposes since his second job is technically illegal and isn’t something he’d ever put on a resume, it _may_ not count) and to top it all off Alfred (after some misguided prodding from Doc Thompkins) had decided this was the right time to regulate Tim’s coffee and food intake – as though he were a fucking child (and speaking of children the Demon brat has been a fucking annoyance, more so than usual which was grating on his nerves, Tim seriously wanted to punch the kid – although that may be the caffeine withdrawal lowering his tolerance for the uppity vitriol that the shithead baby assassin constantly spews).

So it was totally understandable that Tim was taken off guard when he walked downstairs to sneak in some coffee after another all-nighter – demon brat at his heels muttering about something (probably derogatory about Tim) under his breath – to find Dick and Bruce in the dining hall in a somewhat compromising position. Tim will admit that in his caffeine deprived state he may have stared at the scene before he felt the kid stop beside and quickly decided to usher the brat  back upstairs (because despite being a pain in the ass, the demon was just a kid who didn’t need to see his father and big brother getting it on) without a word hoping that the two would take their encounter somewhere more private if given enough time. It wasn’t that he minded or anything (Tim was a firm believer of ‘to each their own’ as long as it wasn’t hurting anyone) but it was a bit of a shock because there was never any indication that their relationship was anything other than platonic. But honestly given all the other shit he had to deal with and the fact that this didn’t even rate in his top 5 for weird shit he’s seen, Tim decided to leave it alone. They were grown men who could do whatever the hell they wanted.

Which was fine, until it wasn’t. See whilst Tim was content with letting Dick and Bruce continue their clandestine relationship, Damian wasn’t. In fact the kid was very obvious as he attempted multiple times to goad Tim into investigating what happened in the dining room that morning and it was in one such moment that the teenager realised how young and sheltered the younger boy was. Damian was under the impression that Dick was sad, he hadn’t realised what was really going on and whilst Tim would usually jumped at the opportunity to mock his younger brother, he knew that this was something that either Bruce or Dick would need to talk about to Damian directly or something very bad would happen – the kid still held onto the belief that his parents would one day get back together even though he mother was clearly psychotic, so the news that his father was sleeping with his hero / older brother would be devastating – so the CEO of Wayne Enterprises decided to be a good older brother and ignore all of his hints as though the brat knew the meaning of subtle.

Talking to Dick was the next item on his agenda – because talking to Dick about this was going to be hard enough. Seriously there was no way in hell he was going to tell Bruce that his kids walked in on him making out with his other kid and now he had to talk to his youngest so the little demon didn’t go on a murder spree – which was easier said than done. Tim tried for days but between his own busy schedule and Dick doing whatever it was he did to fill his time now that the whole spiral mess was over, they just never seemed to cross paths.

Or they didn’t until one night after patrol, Tim had decided to stay in his room in the manor – because it was easier to talk to Bruce about the shareholders meeting in the morning on the drive to the office. Tim needed to give Damian some info for the titans but decided it was easier to just leave a note in the other boy’s room whilst he was still downstairs rather than risk the potential conflict that came with face to face contact, he was honestly too tired to fight and the little demon seemed more and more on edge these days. It was on his way to the brat’s room that he spotted Dick sitting in the dimly lit hallway, the older boy looked up at his approach and smiled half-heartedly at him.

“So I take it you’re finally going to talk to the Demon.” Tim stopped standing in front of his older brother.

“I…Is there something I should be talking to him about in particular?” Dick asked looking surprised and slightly guilty.

“Dick. I know. And look I get it… I mean I don’t but… If this is something you want then I support you … but the kid is too young to understand, so you and Bruce need to talk to him.”

“Timmy, I… I wanted to tell you… I was going to but… I just didn’t know how…” Dick trailed off shrugging helplessly and Tim sighed and sat down next to him so that they were shoulder to shoulder.

“Look, I am angry… I’m not going to lie. The whole faking your death this was horrible and a total Batman move and we’re supposed to be better than that. We’re supposed to trust each other, have each other’s backs as previous Robins. You’re the one who always talks about trust and family but by making us believe that you were dead you showed us that you don’t really believe that…”

“Timmy…”

“I’m not done” Tim cut him off sharply before he saw Dick’s face crumple slightly and softened his tone “Like I said, I’m angry _but_ you are my brother and nothing will change that. So I mean I get why you would be apprehensive to talk to any of us about it, I just want you to know that I get it and you don’t have anything to feel guilty about. Okay”

“Timmy” Dick breathed quietly before he pulled Tim into a tight and somewhat awkward hug due to their positions “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I was scared, I didn’t want you to feel like I’ve betrayed you or anything like that, I just…”

“Dick, you don’t need to explain anything to me. Just talk to the batbrat okay?” Tim smiled as he pulled away, pushing himself off the ground.

“Thanks Tim. I promise I’m not going to abandon you, I’ll still text and call all the time and if you ever need me I promise I’ll do everything in my power to come back okay. You’re my baby brother, I not going to disappear. I just need some time. But we should hang out one last time before I leave okay.” Dick smiled looking hopeful.

Tim smiled back even as he sighed internally, obviously if Dick was going back to Bludhaven then must have had a fight which would explain why their older brother decided to talk to Damian tonight. He should have guessed that any relationship between Bruce and Dick would be explosive.

“Yeah, sure Dick… but you know B…” Tim cut himself off as he heard voices downstairs  “I think that’s my cue to leave, can you tell the brat that I have some info for the Titans, I’ll add a note about it in the database, so just get him to check it whenever”

“I’ll let him know and thanks Timmy, for everything. I don’t know what I did to deserve having you as my baby brother”

“I mean I did kinda force myself on you guys in the beginning so being level headed is the least I can do” Tim joked self-deprecatingly.

“You’re too good for us Tim. Sometimes I wonder if you’re not better off somewhere else. If I thought I could drag you away, I would. But I know better, you give so much and ask for so little in return Timmy… Sometimes I wish you’d be more selfish. ”

“Dick…”

“No look I just… I’m sorry. I know what I’m doing is selfish. We both know how it’s going to affect you and I just don’t understand how you’re so okay with it. You really, really shouldn’t be okay with this Tim.”

“Are you happy?” Tim asked

“I think I will be but …”

“Then that’s all that matters Dick. You talk about me being more selfish but I think you need to take your own advice. You’ve always given up so much for us, for the world. It’s time to do something for yourself. Okay?”

“But…”

“Okay?” Tim repeated voice firm.

“Okay” Dick parroted smiling somewhat sadly, his gaze towards his hands as Tim heard the creaking sound of feet climbing up the steps and silently took that as his cue to leave. He walking briskly down the corridor in an attempt to avoid the brat and nearly bumped into Bruce who seemed to be lurking in the dark at the end of the hallway. Tim raised an eyebrow which was met with a blank mask.

“You can go join Dick, you know? You should have a say too, Dames is you’re son. You should be the one to talk to him” he whispered and Bruce just stared back at him for a moment before he ran his hand through Tim’s hair and smiled sadly.

Tim rolled his eyes at his father’s emotional constipation and sighed as he continued on his way to his room.

“He’s always been Dick’s”

Tim frowned, spinning on his heels to refute Bruce’s claim only to find his father missing.

 Sometimes he just didn’t understand this family.

It was only after Dick disappeared with the brat, once Jason came back and started demanding answers that Bruce admitted (after a yelling match with hood, with accusations from all sides) that neither of them were coming back. That they were gone for good. Tim will admit he blamed Bruce for a long time until one night Jason quietly admitted to him after patrol that Dick told him about leaving. It was only then that Tim started to go over everything that had happened in the past few weeks, analyzing every interaction, every encounter and realised that he had been the one who was confused. In his caffeine deprived state he may have mistakenly interpreted the scene in the dinning room a little different to reality. That wasn't an intimate scene between two secret lovers wrapped up in their own world but rather a moment between a father and son trying to deal with the aftermath of a single life changing decision. 

Dick had been sad and Tim had been so caught up in his own shit that he didn't even notice.  

The brat had been right.

Tim was an idiot. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it...  
> let me know what you think...  
> :)


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